Français I

Leçon 2B – Structure(avoir & telling time)

Avoir = to have

• The verb avoir (to have) is used often in French.

• Avoir is an irregular verb. It does not follow a pattern and you will have to memorize each spelling.

j’ai (I have) nous avons (we have)

tu as (you have) vous avez (you have,

plural/formal)

il a (he has) ils ont (they have)

elle a (she has) elles ont (they have, fem.)

on a (one has)

Avoir w/ negation

• An indefinite article (un/une/des) usually becomes de/d’ after a negation.

Example:J’ai un cours difficile. Je n’ai pas de cours difficile.

Il a des examens. Il n’a pas d’examens.

Avoir is used in certain expressions where English generally uses to be or to feel.

Expressions with avoiravoir…ans to be…years old

avoir besoin (de) to need

avoir de la chance to be lucky

avoir chaud to be hot

avoir envie (de) to feel like

avoir froid to be cold

avoir honte (de) to be ashamed of

avoir l’air to be like

avoir peur (de) to be afraid of

avoir raison to be right

avoir sommeil to be sleepy

avoir tort to be wrong

Telling Time

There are two ways to ask what time it is:

Quelle heure est-il?(What time is it?)

Est-ce que vous avez l’heure?(Do you have the time?)

Use heures by itself to express time on the hour. (use heure for one o’clock)

Il est quatre heures.

Il est une heure.

Express time from the hour to the half-hour by adding minutes.

• Il est douze heurs deux.

12:02

• Il est onze heures vingt.

11:20

Use et quart to say that it is fifteen minutes past the hour.

Use et demie to say that it is thirty minutes past the hour.

Il est une heure et quart.

1:15

Il est sept heures et demie.

7:30

To express time from the half hour to the hour, subtract minutes or a portion of an hour from

the next hour.

Il est trois heures moins dix.

2:50 Il est une heure moins le quart.

12:45

To express at what time something happens, use the

preposition à.

Marc travaille à sept heures moins vingt.(Marc works at 6:40.)

Nous passons un examen à une heure.

(We take a test at one o’clock.)

Expressions for telling time

Á quelle heure? At what time?

de l’après-midi in the afternoon

du matin in the morning

du soir in the evening

en avance early

en retard late

midi noon

minuit midnight

pile on the dot

presque almost

tard late

tôt early

vers about

FYI…

• In France, the 24-hour clock is often used to express official time.

• Departure times, movie times, and store hours are expressed in this fashion.

• Only numbers are used to tell time this way. Expressions like et demie, moins le quart, etc. are not used.